Beginners Game Physics

<p>This article presents an uncomplicated compact introduction to the practical mechanics of physics in video games. Since generating interactive dynamic scenarios is a challenging and rewarding task that requires not only the mimicking of real-world movement, but also performing it in real-time using limited resources. We explain how in practice current approaches exploit the Newtonian laws in conjunction with numerous optimization, visual tricks, and animation mixing to meet the ever growing demands of realistic video games. We provide a beginner's overview of the fundamental principles, limitations, and pitfalls when implementing an initial physics-based game simulator from scratch. We explain simple integration methods, obstacle collision, interaction, and stability issues. We use a best-friend no worry approach for explaining principles based on real-world examples to illustrate the uncomplicated underlying mechanics that are common in most physics-based game simulations. We show results of how a simplified rigid body simulator works in different dynamic scenarios with trade-offs between accuracy, performance (i.e., computational speed), and realism, that allows the developer to adjust realism for overhead demands accordingly (e.g., in hand-held games compared to high-end console games).